The president of Novi sindikat operating in Zagreb’s Čistoća, Mario Iveković spoke in Novi dan about the rebellion of Čistoća workers who refuse to work until the management of the Holding and the city authorities resolve their demands. Among the conditions they set for return to work is an increase in the coefficients.

“The situation is very clear. The workers needed time to communicate what they were looking for. They asked their colleagues to return to work, that’s the last straw. They had a protest in the 12th month when they expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation. Workers in Čistoća are very close to the minimum wage, it is impossible for many to have twice as much salary as them,” he says.

“Maybe a worker gets 900 euros, with allowances for night and shift work. There was also a payroll, where it can be seen that one worker received 700 euros with 29 hours overtime or night. I don’t know where this information about 900 came from. 1400 euros, but…”, he says.

“We cannot call this a strike, the strike is organized by the unions. The workers stopped spontaneously. They are not satisfied with the unions either.”

“Requirements regarding the coefficients, the baseline and the increase in the allowance on working conditions, they said that they are ready to negotiate about it. The workers are not satisfied with such an attitude, but I was surprised… When a mass of a thousand people manage to agree to give up something, but they insist on what They want…  If I were in the administration, I would be happy with such an attitude, give us the odds and we will leave immediately. hands,” he says.

“Of course, these workers have lost confidence in the system, their salary has not been corrected for 10 years. They have had enough, that is an expression of some misery. This answer from the City is saddened, where they do not show any understanding for the condition of the workers, but show understanding for the state of the Holding. They probably limited themselves In negotiations with banks, about a mass of wages, but this is not done while negotiating,” he says, adding that the Management is abusing poor regulation of labor legislation. “This is proof that she is terribly bad. No one called those workers to negotiate, they don’t know, they just know that their wages are stagnating, they stand,” he says.

Iveković also says that Novaković would have to explain his statements. “They want to work, but not for what they give them. What are these laws? Let’s be realistic. The laws need to change so that workers can be involved in negotiations, this is sad. They are excluded, throughout the Holdign the workers are dissatisfied, but the system is such that … There are too many unions,  the management is also abusing the fact that it broke communication with the unions, there are 20 or so unions in the Holding, and there are nine members in the negotiating committee,” he says.

“The workers see that there were a lot of people left who were also clearing and dressing in Bandić’s time, and the workers were killed,” says Iveković, adding that he calculated that the gross salary of the workers, if their demands were met, would be around 6,700. That’s a little more than five thousand kuna, he says. “The workers have given up a large part of their demands, they only ask for these coefficients. In some branches of the Holding, you have drivers who have this coefficient, but in Čistoca there are the most drivers. So the most savings are done on workers if you give them less salary. That’s unfair,” he warns.

Iveković believes that the workers are right, even if they set an ultimatum. Everything that the workers are looking for now, the unions should have sought, he says, so if they don’t get it – then go on strike.

Watch the video on N1 television’s website: https://n1info.hr/vijesti/sindikalist-iz-cistoce-uprava-je-nezoreznana-radnikima-je-kap-prelila-casu/

The text was originally published on January 25, 2023. On the N1 television website, where you can watch the entire conversation.